Avengers: Infinity War Will Feature a Happy Hogan Appearance

Although he’s not allowed to explicitly reveal his involvement, it sounds like Jon Favreau will be making an appearance in Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War next year. At this point, there are many people involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both in front of and behind the scenes, though Favreau continues to have a unique role within the ever-expanding universe. He not only launched the ground-breaking shared universe almost a decade ago by directing Iron Man — and then followed-up by directing Iron Man 2 — but he has also played an integral character in Tony Stark’s life, Happy Hogan.

Favreau made three appearances as Happy throughout the entire Iron Man trilogy, even though he didn’t direct the third installment in the character’s trilogy, and then he went off the grid for a few years. Then, the actor reprised his role earlier this summer in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming, in which Tony tasked him with watching over Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Although his role was relatively brief, it seems like he caught the acting bug, for he may be reprising his role in a future Avengers movie.

Favreau already confirmed last year that he’s going to be executive producing the upcoming Avengers movie, working alongside the Russo brothers behind the camera, though now it seems like he’ll also be appearing in front of the camera. In a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Favreau teased — but didn’t explicitly confirm — his role as Happy Hogan in Avengers: Infinity War, since he’s presumably afraid that there might be some repercussions for both him and Jimmy Kimmel (seeing as they both work for Disney):

“I don’t know what I’m at liberty to say, but I will be going to Atlanta… during the filming of Avengers.”

Interestingly, while the immediate assumption would be that Favreau would be reprising his role for Infinity War, it’s also possible that he’ll be making an appearance in the currently untitled Avengers 4, which is scheduled to enter production this month. After all, principal photography on the upcoming third Avengers movie has already completed (or is near completion), which makes it strange that he would be heading to Atlanta at the tail-end of production. Then again, some of the Guardians of the Galaxy members recently went back to Atalanta for additional filming, which is why the cast photo at D23 Expo last weekend was missing a few members.

In either case, it sounds like Favreau plans on making an appearance as Happy in an Avengers movie; whether that happens in Infinity War or Avengers 4 remains to be seen. It’s also possible, though highly unlikely, that the actor-director could be appearing in Peyton Reed’s upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp, which also films alongside Avengers in Atlanta. Hopefully, we get some more concrete information during Marvel Studios’ upcoming Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con this Saturday; if not, then we’ll just have to wait and see if Happy pops up sometime during next year’s Infinity War.